Metal
Apple used the mobilemultiplayer online battle arena gameVainglory to demonstrate Metal's graphics capabilities at theiPhone 6's September 2014 announcement event.[1]
Developer	Apple Inc.
Initial release	June 2014; 11 years ago (2014-06)
Stable release	4 / June 2025; 8 months ago (2025-06)
Written in	Metal Shading Language (C++14-based in Metal 1–3,C++17-based in Metal 4), Runtime/API:Objective-C,Swift,C++ (binding via Metal-cpp)
Operating system	iOS,iPadOS,macOS,tvOS,watchOS andvisionOS
Type	3D graphics and computeAPI
License	Proprietary
Website	developer.apple.com/metal/

Metal is a low-level, low-overheadhardware-accelerated3D graphic andcompute shaderAPI created byApple, debuting iniOS 8. Metal combines functions similar toOpenGL andOpenCL in one API. It is intended to improve performance by offering low-level access to the GPU hardware for apps oniOS,iPadOS,macOS,tvOS,watchOS andvisionOS. It is similar to low-level APIs on otherplatforms such asVulkan andDirectX 12.

Metal is anobject-oriented API that can be invoked using theSwift,Objective-C orC++17^[2]programming languages. Full-blown GPU execution is controlled via the Metal Shading Language. According to Apple promotional materials: "MSL[Metal Shading Language] is a single, unified language that allows tighter integration between the graphics and compute programs. Since MSL is C++-based, you will find it familiar and easy to use."^[3]

Metal aims to provide low-overhead access to the GPU. Commands are encoded beforehand and then submitted to the GPU for asynchronous execution. The application controls when to wait for the execution to complete thus allowing application developers to increase throughput by encoding other commands while commands are executed on the GPU or save power by explicitly waiting for GPU execution to complete. Additionally, command encoding is CPU independent thus applications can encode commands to each CPU thread independently. Lastly, render states are pre-computed beforehand, allowing the GPU driver to know in advance how to configure and optimize the render pipeline before command execution.^[4]

Metal improves the capabilities ofGPGPU programming by usingcompute shaders. Metal uses a specificshading language based onC++14, implemented usingClang andLLVM.^[5]

Metal allows application developers to create Metal resources such as buffers, textures. Resources can be allocated on the CPU, GPU, or both and provides facilities to update and synchronize allocated resources. Metal can also enforce a resource's state during a command encoder's lifetime.^[6][7]

On macOS, Metal can provide application developers the discretion to specify which GPU to execute. Application developers can choose between the low-power integrated GPU of the CPU, the discrete GPU (on certain MacBooks and Macs) or an external GPU connected through Thunderbolt. Application developers also have the preference on how GPU commands are executed on which GPUs and provides suggestion on which GPU a certain command is most efficient to execute (commands to render a scene can be executed by the discrete GPU while post-processing and display can be handled by the integrated GPU).^[8]

Metal Performance Shaders is a highly optimized library of graphics functions that can help application developers achieve great performance at the same time decrease work on maintaining GPU family specific functions.^[9] It provides functions including:

• Image filtering algorithms
• Neural network processing
• Advanced math operations
• Ray tracing

Metal has been available since June 2, 2014 oniOS devices powered byApple A7 or later,^[10] and since June 8, 2015 onMacs (2012 models or later) runningOS X El Capitan.^[11]

On June 5, 2017, atWWDC, Apple announced the second version of Metal, to be supported bymacOS High Sierra,iOS 11 andtvOS 11. Metal 2 is not a separate API from Metal and is supported by the same hardware. Metal 2 enables more efficientprofiling anddebugging inXcode, acceleratedmachine learning, lowerCPU workload, support forvirtual reality on macOS, and specificities of theApple A11 GPU, in particular.^[12]

At the 2020WWDC, Apple announced the migration of the Mac toApple silicon. Macs using Apple silicon will feature Apple GPUs with a feature set combining what was previously available on macOS and iOS, and will be able to take advantage of features tailored to thetile based deferred rendering (TBDR) architecture of Apple GPUs.^[13]

At the 2022WWDC, Apple announced the third version of Metal (Metal 3), which would debut with the release ofmacOS Ventura,iOS 16 andiPadOS 16. Metal 3 introduces the MetalFX upscaling framework, which renders complex scenes in less time per frame with high-performance upscaling and anti-aliasing, mesh shaders support.^[14] Also announced possibility to use C/C++ for Metal API.^[15]

At the 2023WWDC, Apple announced a brand new toolkit called the Game Porting Toolkit to port Windows 10/11-based games. It includes an environment to test binaries, translation layers from HLSL to MSL, and Metal-cpp bindings. Jeremy Sandmel announced a new Game Mode formacOS Sonoma, andHideo Kojima announcedDeath Stranding for the macOS App Store.^[16]

At the 2024WWDC, Apple announced Game Porting Toolkit 2, along with the release of new games such asControl: Ultimate Edition,Frostpunk 2, andAssassin's Creed Shadows for macOS.^[17]

At the 2025WWDC, Apple announced Metal 4, a new version of the API featuring a unified command encoder system, support for neural rendering, and new technologies such as MetalFX Frame Interpolation and a ray tracing denoiser.^[18]

The first version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:^[19]

• Apple A7SoC or later withiOS 8 or later
• Apple M1SoC or later withmacOS 11 or later
• Intel Processor withIntel HD and Iris Graphics Ivy Bridge series or later withOS X 10.11 or later
• AMD Graphics withGCN orRDNA architecture withOS X 10.11 or later
• NVIDIA Graphics withKepler architecture withOS X 10.11 tomacOS 11 operating system
• NVIDIA Graphics withMaxwell architecture orPascal architecture withOS X 10.11 tomacOS 10.13 operating system

The second version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:

• Apple A7SoC or later withiOS 11 or later
• Apple M1SoC or later withmacOS 11 or later
• Intel Processor withIntel HD and Iris Graphics Skylake series or later withmacOS 10.13 or later
• AMD Graphics withGCN orRDNA architecture withmacOS 10.13 or later

The third version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:^[20]

• Apple A13 or later withiOS 16,iPadOS 16^[21]
• Apple A14 or later withiOS 16,iPadOS 16 or later
• Apple M1SoC or later withiPadOS 16 or later
• Apple M1SoC or later withmacOS 13 or later
• Intel Processor withIntel UHD 630 or Iris Plus (Kaby Lake or later) withmacOS 13 or later
• AMD Graphics withRDNA architecture (5000 and 6000 series) and Pro Vega (5th generationGCN architecture)

The fourth version of Metal supports the following hardware and software:

• Apple A14 or later withiOS 26,iPadOS 26 or later
• Apple M1SoC or later withiPadOS 26,macOS 26 or later

According to Apple, more than 148,000 applications use Metal directly, and 1.7 million use it through high-levelframeworks, as of June 2017.^[22] macOS games using Metal forrendering are listed below.

• Direct3D –DirectX 12 introduces low-level APIs.
• Mantle – low-level API byAMD
• Vulkan – low-overhead successor to OpenGL
• MoltenVK - software compatibility library to run Vulkan software on top of the Metal API
• WebGPU
• OpenGL - cross-platform graphics API

• Metal for Developers
• Metal Programming Guide (preliminary)
• WWDC14 demo;extended version
• Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012) - Apple article explaining what GPUs are compatible with Apple's Metal APIs on Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) operating system

• 2014 software
• 3D graphics APIs
• Apple Inc. developed frameworks
• Graphics libraries
• IOS
• MacOS APIs

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